


Song of the Skies

by Rhymefire



Series: Unto the Breach [2]
Category: Sunless Skies
Genre: Epistolary, Research Notes, Write As You Play, travel guide
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-08-17
Packaged: 2019-10-29 07:51:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17804006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhymefire/pseuds/Rhymefire
Summary: This notebook is the property of the Determined Scholar. DO NOT STEAL! This slender volume contains notes about the creatures and ports of the High Wilderness. It looks like a confused astronomer has come to the High Wilderness to discover why the stars are going out.





	1. Table of Contents

DO NOT TOUCH. THAT MEANS YOU, STOLID CREWMAN.

 

My use-name is the Determined Scholar. I come from Vienna and studied there as an astronomer. I was happy until the stars started going out. So now I'm here in ~~space~~ the High Wilderness. I originally came here to figure out why the stars are dying, but there's so much to learn. I can't wait to learn all I can. I'm part of the crew of the Orphean. They're happy to have me along since I'm working as well. I don't mind, really. I'm learning a lot just by working alongside the crew.

 

Section One - Creatures

Section Two - Ports

Section Three - Treasures

Section Four - The Truth

Section Five - Quartermaster's Guide


	2. Creatures

Starlings

27, March 1905 – I was amazed to see starlings hiding in Port Prosper! Do they hide in all the towns? It’s good to see some other creatures from back home. How far did they fly to get here? It's so nice to hear them. For some reason, they gather around the Incognito Princess. I have no idea why. Should I be researching this or just putting it up to 'Neath weirdness?'

 

Scrive-Spinsters

28, March 1905 – Real or not? The crew tells me that they walk in glades and steal the words from books.

26, May 1905 – They are real! And they’re horrifying! They’re made of bronzewood. They wear coats and wigs. They speak correspondence and shoot purple bolts at you. A group of determined workmen can chop them into logs, though. Once they’re dead, of course. You should never approach a live Scrive-Spinster with an axe. We found this one lurking near some ruins. Perhaps it was looking for knowledge there? We managed to collect some of the papers held by a separate one. I can’t make sense of it. It’s all in pictographs. If you're lucky, you'll find maps charting out old celestial bodies. Visions of the heavens are always exciting!

4, September 1905 - They flock in Traitor's Wood. I hate them so much. They're the worst. The crew says they are survivors from an old record house called Pergamon Manse. Were they librarians of a sort? They really hate devils. Did the devils destroy Pergamon Manse? I have so many questions!

 

Reach Marauders

2, April 1905 – These ships have turned to robbery to make ends meet. They aren’t very friendly. Usually, their captain rules with an iron fist and hoards all the best treasures in their cabin. They’re fond of keeping strange pets. I haven't seen a pet aboard their ship that can't be called an uncanny specimen.

5, May 1905 – Their engines are made of stolen parts. You can strip some of it down, but its hard work trying to find pieces that fit into your own engine.

2, September 1905 - Their cannons are unusual. I can only imagine they are custom-made. They fire chunks of superheated rock. I can only imagine this is so they don’t have to go into a port to buy more ammunition as most vessels do. No port would ever let a marauder dock. Right?

The safe will typically hold coin and the treasures are kept in the hold. We have found marauders hiding fuel, uncanny specimens, sovereigns, salon-stewed gossip, jumbles of undistinguished souls, barrels of unseasoned hours, carefully-packed crates of munitions and visions of the heavens in their holds. The coin surprises me. Why wouldn’t they just put it in the safe with the rest of it? I can only assume they have no idea how to organize things.

 

Tackety Scouts

29, April 1905 – These ships are fast and light. They tend to carry a lot of natural resources that they find since a lot of Tackety Scouts double as traders or messengers. We found a barrel of unseasoned hours on this one. How does one season an hour? You can also pry off the nameplates and try to sell those.

10, August 1905 – Since they spend much of their time gathering natural resources, it is possible to run into them while mining hour deposits in the void.

16, August 1905 – If you’re lucky you can scavenge some coal (they typically use this as fuel) and supplies before the fires eat up the broken ship, but you must be careful or someone will be burnt alive.

In their holds, we have found fuel, gourds of chorister nectar, sacks of verdant seeds, bronzewood, uncanny specimens, jumbles of undistinguished souls, sovereigns, visions of the heavens, uncanny specimens, barrels of unseasoned hours and carefully-packed crates of munitions. Keep in mind that some fuel and supplies are also kept in the stores. Our ship doesn’t have one of these (we’ve only got a hold). The stores are right by the engine. Our quartermaster huffed something about it being a fire trap.

The outside of the vessel is fitted with bronzewood. Upon defeat, some of it can be pried off and put on your own ship, but it will smell awful.

 

Enduring Dreadnought

13, June 1905 – These ships are built like tanks and make use of a machine gun that fires quick bursts. If you’re lucky there will be a ministry stamped permit in the navigation suite. You can also pry off the nameplate and sell it.

2, September 1905 - In their holds we’ve found ministry-stamped permits, sovereigns, bronzewood, rolls of thirsty bombazine, selections of immaculate souls, casks of navaratine gemstones, moments of inspiration, condemned experiments and unlicensed charts.

The navigation suite can also hold unlicensed charts.  Their kitchens are massive and are stocked with the most wonderful foods.

The lockbox is kept on the captain’s desk and typically holds coins and an invitation to Perdurance. This always makes my captain happy. She loves parties.

 

Chorister Bees 

9, May 1905 – These creatures are fascinating! Enormous space bees! They travel in swarms and can fly freely through space. They have a thick exoskeleton and ichor inside them. A sigil is carved onto their back. They sing sweetly, but you will usually hear the buzz of their wings first. Their stingers are long as rapiers and filled with deadly venom. Chorister bee venom causes intense pain. It’s a fast if excruciating, death. Chorister bees can easily tear an engine apart with their mandibles.

While regular bees attach their hives to trees, chorister bees build their hives in the vacuum of space. The typical hive structure will hide the honeycombs in the centre and surround it with ironwood trees. The whole thing is glued together with a special substance they create with their mandibles. They patrol the area around the hive and attack any intruders. They are very protective of their hive and disturbing it will usually attract a swarm.

They are famous for their death-hymn, which is said to contain secrets. So far, I haven’t heard any secrets. I suspect this is just a sky-story. Their death-hymn is hard to forget, but not particularly hard to listen to. It does make your teeth itch a bit, though. My captain says it is the high C that does this, but I don’t know much about music. What is interesting is that a chorister bee will not always sing a death-hymn before they die. Typically, there are about twenty bees in a swarm, and only one of those will sing once the swarm is killed.

They are just as famous for the nectar they create. The nectar is a lovely sweetener with some very interesting medicinal properties. It gives you an extra half-octave of range, which is very useful for singers. The chorister bees collect nectar from the flowers that grow in the high wilderness and store it in a special organ called a honey stomach. It can be harvested from their corpses if you’re careful. The easiest way is to split the exoskeleton with an axe and dig out the honey stomach. Be careful not to puncture it! Make sure the bee is fully dead before you start. Any final spasms on the bees part will absolutely kill the harvester.

8, July 1905 – They are covered in hairs made of sharp chitin. They’re more like needles than hairs. You can cut through them with a razor, but your hands will look all scratched up afterwards.

12, July 1905 – The Repentant Devil says they sing of “a well and the unpleasant fate of the one who gave them voices.” I wonder what the connection is between devils and bees. Everyone can agree there is one, but nobody can say what it is. I bet it's the correspondence sigil on their back that the Repentant Devil is talking about. So a judgement gave the chorister bees their voices with the correspondence. How does this work? They must be born with these sigils already engraved. He also says that Titania calls them, but won't elaborate. Maybe they're attracted to the smell the flower gives off? Considering where we are, I can't rule out something more mystical.

12, October 1905 – It is the wings they use to sing. The buzzing happens when they shift their wings around, and the singing happens by some correspondence related magic that I don’t understand. Earlier, I thought they used their voices to sing. I've seen stranger things up here, so that's not a stretch, is it? A scientist at the Nature Reserve assured me that it was the wings that created the songs.

 

Cantankeri

22, May 1905 – These enormous isopods swim through the void. They grumble upon death. It doesn’t sound very nice. It’s like crumbling millstones. They have extremely long lifespans and take a while to die. They are half fossilised and upon death only stony chunks remain. If you are patient and sift through the debris, you may find a stony organ that still beats. It takes a ridiculous amount of time for these creatures to die. Still-beating cantankeri organs are curiosity pieces and can be classified as uncanny specimens. When searching for these organs, be careful. Their ichor is acidic and will chew right through your sky-suit. You can also find veins of gold in the plating if you're lucky. They can be chipped out with a hammer and chisel. Strong, corded tendons hold their limbs in place.

1, August 1905 – They cling to deposits of hours floating in space. Be careful when mining, because they will attack you if they’re there.

4, October 1905 – You can get meat out of them if you have a canning station. You’ll need to use the shell-hammers and saws to loosen the rocky plates and the vices to pry them apart. I wouldn’t recommend using your hands, because you’ll end up cutting yourself. I suppose you could use a hand drill, but that seems like it would be messy. There is a rich jelly under the carapace that can be scooped out and cords of meat near the centre of the creature. It tastes very bland, though.

20, November 1905 – Sometimes you can find seams of jasper, tourmaline or agate in the calcified plates. Use a pick and chisel to get them out properly. You can also find strange, unnerving fossils in there, so I would be careful. They look like predatory fish fossils or something like that. The shell plates are too tough to crack, so you have to pry them apart.

There are lots of stories about these isopods. The crew tell me that they come from a world that died a very long ago. When their world died, they did nothing. They just burrowed into the earth and waited. Now that it's dead, they're angry and wander around being mad at new things. Some people say they tell each other stories or make plans. I like to think they're holding therapy sessions. If anyone could use some therapy sessions, it's these creatures. Actually, I think a lot of people up here could benefit from therapy. Apparently, they really hate scorn-flukes.

 

Bull Cantankeri

11, June 1905 - These are older than their smaller cousins. These hulking monstrosities are as large as elephants. They have even more armour plates. Veins of precious minerals can be found in the plating. These are not good eating. The bits of flesh woven through the stone are stringy and taste horribly sour according to the crew. If you have canning equipment you can dig out the heart, which is full of hours. The crew tells me that this is the old hatred that every cantankeri has and that the stone plating grows around it like a gallstone around a fleck of crystal.

In the inner plating, you can sometimes find otherwordly artefacts. Because of how they ram into everything, it's common for stuff to get wedged between their plating, but I'm not sure how these got into the inner plating! You can also find a smaller cantankeri clinging to the belly sometimes. I'm not entirely sure why. I don't know if cantankeri can have children (which raises a host of questions). You can capture them, but it takes a soft touch and a lot of netting. And it's very dangerous.

 

Night Hunters

29, May 1905 – I heard miners tell stories of these at the Hanged Man in Lustrum. They devour people whole. All you’re supposed to see is a black rush before you die.

 

Star-Maddened Explorer

3, July 1905 – These poor men have been driven mad by the void. Maybe they became terrified by something and they snapped. Maybe the stained-glass windows broke. These ships will attack anything they perceive as an enemy. They’ll even try to ram their engine against yours. There are plenty of monsters in this place, but I think these ones scare me the most.

2, September 1905 - In their holds we’ve found, barrels of unseasoned hours, carefully-packed crates of munitions, fuel, uncanny specimens, jumbles of undistinguished souls, sovereigns and visions of the heavens. 

I would be careful going into the captain’s cabin to look at the logs. You might come away with a tale of terror or a sky story and coin, but it’ll be disturbing. You may find survivors in there, and I encourage you to show mercy and take them in.

There are superstitions against salvaging the engines of those who’ve gone mad, but as far as I can tell these superstitions are nonsense. “Some superstitions have meaning and some don’t,” the Stolid Crewman says. “The trick is telling which is which. Now stop quoting me in that journal of yours and get to work. That hull won’t strip itself.” 

 

Star-Seared Explorer

2, September 1905 - I think these are just bigger ships manned by crazier people. They do more damage and seem more resilient. They're definitely crazier. There's no chance of finding a sane person on this engine. I'd be careful looking in the captain's log. Sometimes you find Correspondence symbols in there. I've learned to be wary of those.

When exploring the engine, bundle up! These people like to remove the stained-glass windows so they can look at the stars. If you're lucky, they'll have wrapped up the panes and stored them in a safe place. They also like to catch and cage sky-beasts. I'm not sure why they're so well fed and it unnerves me.

In their hold we've found panes of stained glass, otherwordly artefacts, ministry-stamped permits, sovereigns, bronzewood, rolls of thirsty bombazine, selections of immaculate souls, casks of navaratine gemstones and moments of inspirations.

 

Pardoner-Eels

2, October 1905 – These eels live in colonies and like to hide under rocky landmasses to breed. They stay near the edge of the landmass so they can hunt in open space. They can grow up to five feet in length. They only resemble eels because of their long bodies, but I’m positive they are not actually eels. Their flesh tastes smoky. They exude clouds of smoke as camouflage, which could explain the taste. It’s not a bad taste. It’s like smoked herring, but meatier.

They can also be found hunting in forests, so I would be careful in Traitor’s Wood. If you have a canning station, you can scoop them out of the sky with nets. I saw our quartermaster snag one out of the sky with a harpoon. I don’t remember one of those coming with the canning station. Anyways, they’re delicious and the best way to kill them is to club them to death.

If you’re on land, you can use a fishing rod to try capturing some, but most captains don’t bother doing this. They just use the nets.

Pardoner-eels don’t attack ships and are harmless. It’s perfectly safe to fly your engine through a colony of them. They don’t like people very much and will usually hide. I haven’t heard of pardoner-eels eating people, but you should always be careful around sky-beasts.

 

Curator

14, December 1905 – These enormous bats have thick fur to protect them from the cold. They are fiercely intelligent and can rip an engine apart with their long-fingered claws. They can emit waves of shrieks that can break a locomotive apart. Their yellowed fangs are as sharp as chisels and are rooted deeply in the scarlet gums. Collecting a trophy from a curator is a good way to calm the crew. After all, if they can defeat such a creature, they should be able to survive anything. Their enormous, leathery wings curl inwards upon death.

 

Sky-Bats

23, December 1905 – These intelligent creatures look like regular bats. They can talk, though. Each has a distinct personality. I asked the Repentant Devil if they have souls. He gave me a long, slow look and said, “Well, aren’t you interesting. What sort of scholar did you say you were?” Well, I think they have souls. They’re definitely sentient. They speak in high pitched, squeaky voices and may use incomplete sentences.

Captains like to use them as scouts because they can fly outside and relay information about what they find. They love moths. I’ve seen the captain bribe her bat with moths when it doesn’t want to say what it found.

A bat may become star-smitten if they witness something spectacular out in the High Wilderness. They get eyes like cut tourmalines that are very uncomfortable to look at. These bats will prefer to be outside at all times so they can gaze adoringly at the stars. They get a bit giddy, honestly.

 

Guests

28, December 1905 - These horrible creatures are attracted to the warmth that lived-in places create. They’re attracted to emotional warmth, the nasty beasts. They grow up to a foot long. They have no bones. They produce and spit awful goo. They invade engines like hermit crabs. They’re the worst.

28, April 1906 – The Guests are favoured by the Waste-Waif. They make whistling devotions to her. We discovered this after we killed a Guest. We were on edge, so the captain ordered us to keep firing. It was good to let off some terror, but I’m worried that we’ve angered something big. Hopefully, it’s all superstition?

They can be found lurking by abandoned engines, so be careful when scavenging.

 

Deranged Dreadnought

11, January 1906 – These rabid engines are covered in glassy growths. It is equipped with a submachine gun that swivels about. We searched the crew cabins and found a personal log. We also found a person that had been turned to glass. Apparently, these people were driven mad, but I’m not sure why everything is covered in glass. You can pry off the nameplates to get charred stovepipe nameplates.

The crew cabins hold savage secrets.

 

Aeginae

1, Feb 1906 – A large creature that lurks in the mists. Its roar sounds like thunder and they like bumping ships. The policy is to run and not engage them in combat. They’re very aggressive. I've heard that they're bigger than mountains and eat time. That they've made a dark pact with the suns. I hear their cries and can almost believe it.

 

Colonized Cantankeri

20, March 1906 - This is formed when a herd of cantankeri is swallowed up by a virulent fungus. The fungal-stone mass forms into a lumpy sphere and floats about looking for more creatures to swallow up. The fungus is tough and fibrous. I suspect that the fungus itself is carnivorous as the mound actively hunts for new food. The fungus feeds by growing roots into the cantankeri and extracting the nutrients from their stony plates. The fungus shoots out gooey spores to propagate and kill. The barbed spores are highly toxic and shouldn’t be touched with bare hands. The closer they are to death, the more spores they shoot out.

I theorize that the reason that this fungus is often attached to cantankeri is because the cantankeri often sleep while buried in rock. So the fungus grows on rocks and then happens upon a slumbering cantankeri. It then attaches itself to the living creature instead of the inert ground around it and uses the cantankeri’s body to move around. It manipulates the still-living beast like a gruesome puppet. I never thought that I would feel bad for cantankeri, but there it is.

With a sharp trowel and thick leather gloves, you can dig the through the fungus to the cantankeri beneath. Then you can pry out the valuable stones that cantakeri have, but this is a terrifying process. The fungus doesn’t stop moving. It just doesn’t stop.

To render the fungus edible, it must be cut into strips, hung and smoked for a fortnight and then fried thoroughly. It tastes sour, but you’ll have two crates of it.

 

Resurrectionists

28, May 1906 – These blackened locomotives are manned by grave-robbers. They loot the tombs in Albion and sell cadavers to deranged lunatics and the stolen goods to pawn-shops. I’ve heard of doctors robbing graves to learn how to cut up bodies back home, but I don’t hold with that sort of behaviour. It’s monstrous.

The crew hides stolen valuables such as earrings, signets and the like in their clothing. It’s usually sewn into the lining. Stolid is unnervingly good at finding these goods. They usually turn the hold into a meat locker of sorts to hold corpses. I’m not sure whether they’re strapped down to avoid them walking away or flying off the table when the engine moves suddenly. It gives me the shivers. They even steal the burial clothes! The most expensive burial-clothes are made of thirsty bombazine.

They like to preserve organs as uncanny specimens to sell to collectors and aren’t above breaking the windows in sealed-off rooms to turn them freezing. You can get the most horrible stories and secrets by reading the careful logs they keep. It gives me the shivers.

It’s clear why these engines are hated throughout Albion. At least the star-maddened engines are crazy. These are just regular people who’ve decided to become monsters! They know people hate them, too. It’s why their ships are so heavily plated. You need mining tools to even think about stripping them down for repairs.


	3. Ports

PORTS IN THE REACH

Port Prosper

27, March 1905 - The rich live in the west and the poor live in the east. Many arrive in Port Prosper hoping to explore Albion, but very few leave it again. There is a booming hour refinery here. When we arrived there was a parade for the red saint. I was unable to learn much about the red saint. The posters all had vivisected dragons on them, so maybe he was a dragon slayer? Certainly, people dressed up as knights and dragons.

The Albion Transit Relay is the best way to get to Albion, but you’ll have to pay a fee of some barrels of hours. Either that or a ministry stamped permit. No matter where you go, some things never change.

The Windward Company is located here. I was amazed to see pictures of Old London on its walls. I’ve seen pictures of London back home, but it’s something else seeing them in space. It also hosts balls every season! Our captain was able to get some of us in. Our Stolid Crewman came along as well. He’s a sweet man, but he watches the captain very carefully. I think he worries about her. Isn’t that nice?

The Nelson is a lovely tea shop that I found. I loved their scones, but their jam seemed a bit off to me. I’m still not used to the cooking up here. Right beside it is Nelson’s Emporium. You can buy unseasoned hours there by the barrel. I am still amazed at the hour trade. To think that while I was in university back home, the people of our Stolen London were learning how to put time in baskets!

5, June 1905 – The Gaudy Widow is a vaudeville theatre that is incredible. The rich and poor both love the theatre. It’s nice to see. In the stalls, you can have roasted chestnuts and boiled sweets.

27, November 1905 – The Other Company House is now located here. It's the new base of the Windward Company. I feel kind of bad now. The General Manager and the Prudent Secretary have to share an office now and they both hate it. It’s about the size of a cupboard and their desks are awkwardly crammed against each other. I’m not sure if this is new, but we’re now getting less gold per port report. To make up for that, we’re also getting some fuel and supplies?

The tea the Manager makes isn’t as nice. He’s still working on understanding his new kettle. You can get ministry-stamped permits, but you can’t get invitations to Perdurance anymore. Luckily, we still have some rattling around.

 

Company House and Victory Hall

6, April 1905 - Company House is the local head of Windward Company. The Stovepipes are everywhere here, and the Prudent Secretary is happy to buy port reports. Victory Hall is in spitting distance. The Tacketies also buy port reports. I'm trying to keep politics out of this notebook. Functionally, I'm pretty sure the two groups offer the same services to captains. I'll need to look into this more.

16, September 1905 – The Windward Company's headquarters are located in an ex-tinning factory. It still smells a bit like beans, actually. I’m sure the smell will fade eventually. Although there is a general manager, the Prudent Secretary is the one you’ll want to talk. They were sent here from London. If you have enough favour, you can have tea with the Manager and that is a good way of getting salon-stewed gossip since he has so many sisters. He says, “I’m not a gossip, of course, but you know how these things are.” I have no idea what he’s talking about. You can also get ministry-stamped permits and invitations to Perdurance. You’ll have to talk to the Secretary about the invitations, though. The General Manager isn’t important enough to hand them out. While handing in port reports to the Secretary, be sure to keep detailed notes. They appreciate succinct answers and won’t be impressed if you don’t really know what you’re talking about.

16, October 1905 – This collection of glass and steel buildings named Victory Hall was built after the blockade of New Winchester. The Indurate Veteran is a war hero, from what I understand. She’s very knowledgeable about current events and keeps a close eye on laws and motions that are being passed. Because of this, she always has a collection of savage secrets. Representatives of small independent colonies like to bring them otherworldly artefacts as presents, and the Indurate Veteran is happy to give them out as rewards to captains that have earned her favour. They are kept in the Ward-Griffiths archive. This archive isn’t very well organized. I don’t think they really know what they have down there.

12, November 1905 - The Windward Company has abandoned its headquarters here. The building might be turned back into a tinning factory. 

 

Magdalene's

9, April 1905 - It is beautiful on the outside. Seeing those spires reach for the stars always makes my heart soar. When you go inside, you’re caught up in all the noise and gossip. I was able to speak with an attendant and was told that this is a hospital for the soul. They treat loneliness, heartbreak and terror. It’s incredible. It’s nothing like an asylum.

The ill are treated in special treatment chambers. The staff are masters of disguise and dress up as people the patient knows to help them get closure. I hope we come back here soon. I feel like there's so much more to learn about this place. The Stolid Crewman wrinkled his nose at me and assured me that we'd end up back here eventually. He didn't seem that happy about it, but a lot of the crew were acting as though this place was a home away from home. How strange!

13, June 1905 – The Keepsake Market is a tiny stall set up near port. The nurses sell off the belongings of people who need to stay a long time. I would recommend being very careful about how long you stay! When the Keepsake Market is up, you can try hiring on some crew from engines that have had to send their captain in for a very long treatment. I’m told that this is one of the few cases where it’s okay to desert your engine. A lot of the captains get together nearby and have drinks at a place called Blythe’s Bar.

19, October 1905 – If you’re liked by the Amenable Host, you can go backstage and try helping the attendants prepare for their roles. They say it helps to have someone feed them lines when they’re practising.

In the Solace Chambers, they treat fear and existential turmoil. It’s the place where skyfarers usually need to go. I had to commit myself for treatment since they take patient confidentiality seriously here. I said that I wanted to be treated for a personal failing and that someone from my past would do the trick. I found myself competing with one of my old university rivals! It was incredible. I do feel much better now. Can you get used to constant fear? Apparently, you can. I think the secret to staying alive in the High Wilderness is to be a little scared no matter what’s happening.

 

New Winchester

16, April 1905 – Wolvesy Station is the central station. I couldn’t explore the city much. I’ve spent nearly all my time here on locomotives for my research. Everyone at Wolvesy Station knows that this is where captains spend their time. I understand that the Promise of Days is the best place to go if you’re a skyfarer. All the captains and their crew like to go there to share stories and information. It can be hard to find accurate information because there’s so much of it! I don’t know what is accurate and what are myths! I think part of the reason it’s so popular is because it’s right next to the engine yard. So when the engine is being repaired, the crew come here.

Abraham’s Engineering is a lively stockyard packed with everything a captain needs to care for a locomotive. They sell weapons and various upgrades to make life more enjoyable among the stars. Their engineers will help install any upgrades you buy as well. What I like about them is that they take the time to engrave the lines of a poem into the weapons. Do all engineering places do this? Nobody would tell me. Our Jerusalem gun is inscribed with a line from William Blake’s poem ‘Jerusalem.’ I think it’s a good choice for a gun. I couldn’t find the poem that our Emanation’s engraving is from.

Victoria Market takes up a whole tangle of streets. It’s so easy to get lost! There are lots of things to buy here, but I’m not paid all that much as a crew. I mostly clean things. You can’t buy anything that’s useful for a ship anyways, but captains sure like to sell things here. You know I was in a tea shop that also bought souls? How does one remove a soul, in any case?

Wolvesy’s Engine Yard is where engines go to die. That’s what people tell me, but I think that’s just something they say to cut down on potential competition! Anyone worth their salt can sift through the scrap here to find engines worth buying. The workers here can also fix nearly anything.

 

Titania

19, April 1905 – How incredible! This town is built on top of a huge orchid. Enormous flowers hang all around it. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised to see flowers growing in space. They have air, sunshine, soil and water. Surely that’s all flowers need, right?

I first found myself in Oberon’s Landing. Bohemians live here, so I shouldn’t be surprised at the Shakespeare reference. When was the last time I saw A Midsummer Night’s Dream? It’s lovely here, except for all the bees. Giant flowers attract giant bees. It’s the worst, but it’s so pretty. Bohemians are a tough bunch, though! They paint and write outdoors anyways. They just avoid the places where the buzzing is the worst.

In the Porphyry Font there is a beautiful pavilion where a Melancholy Poet does business. She gathers stories from skyfarers. She pays good money for them! She’s interested in sky-stories, visions of the heavens, moments of inspiration and captivating treasures. I asked how one could tell the difference between the types of stories, but she just laughed and waved me away.

Titania is run by the Rhapsodic Mayor, because she was the first of its founders. This doesn’t mean that she was the one who built the crystal spires. From what I can gather, all the crystal buildings were built by an unknown people. These people must have left at some point. Did the chorister bees drive them off? But then why did they start building in the first place? Maybe they weren’t bothered by the bees at first and then got sick of them eventually. Anyways, the Mayor put in the other things, like the marble paths.

The Sapphire’d Souk is a great place to buy supplies and fuel. It’s also the best place to purchase gourds of chorister nectar. I suppose they wouldn’t have any trouble collecting that here, would they?

8, May 1905 – Today, Titania was attacked by a hive of chorister bees. We were lucky enough to see it! It was incredible! Very sad, of course. But amazing to watch! The crystal domes are cracked and several buildings are now piles of rubble. Currently, they are looking for seasoned explorers to help them pick a style for the reconstruction. It will be long and slow, probably.

19, July 1905 – The artists of Titania are strong-willed! Even though their city is still covered in heaps of rubble, they bravely soldier on. They held an art gallery today and I was lucky enough to attend. The art was inspired by recent events (mainly the beauty of the flowers and chorister bee attack) and was mostly created with paints. There were a few sculptures too. The crew felt very relaxed. I am continuously surprised by the emotional sensitivity of the crew. I expected them to not be interested, but everyone showed up for the gallery. I guess in a place where stories are used as currency, it’s good to have a healthy interest in art?

 

Inconceivable Circus

23, April 1905 – This is the grimmest circus I’ve ever been to. The performers ended up settling here because they’re terrified to move elsewhere. It’s also the worst circus I’ve ever seen. Everything is shabby and full of dust. The people are miserable. The food is sticky in a horrible way. Not a fun, ‘oh, I’m breaking the rules of my diet with this sugar’ way but a ‘this is going to make me sick’ way.

The attractions aren’t even fun. The hall of mirrors only has one mirror, and most of the stalls were empty. It was pretty boring. I wouldn’t recommend wasting money on the tickets here. I suppose it’s a good place to relax, but only because nothing is trying to actively kill you. And you’ll come away with an interesting sky-story by visiting the big top, but that story will be about what a terrible time you had.

There is a massive obelisk floating nearby. Ruins, maybe?

You can buy bronzewood here, as the Wit and Vinegar company has an outlet here.

16, June 1905 – If you’re lucky you’ll arrive on a day when new arrivals come in. The circus is at its most lively then, which still isn’t very exciting. You can try recruiting people from here, but the circus has a strange hold on people. It’s hard to leave if you came here without knowing why.

I have discovered that the obelisk here is very dangerous. It’s covered in symbols of some sort. When I touched it, I felt as though it was right to be here. I never wanted to leave. I only got out because the Stolid Crewman slapped me upside the head and dragged me away.

22, July 1905 – I made note today of the searchlights they use to attract ships. Bright pink and green lights are shined onto the clouds and rock formations to make shadows run across the sky. It’s very eye catching. I assume they turn them off when they get nervous about enemies though, which is probably why I didn’t see them last time.

It looks like a number of ports have changed some of the goods they sell. The Circus doesn’t trade in fuel anymore, but only in supplies. I have to admit, I did wonder where they got so much fuel in the first place if nobody ever leaves here. Wait, where do they get so many circus peanuts and honey cakes? Do I want to know?

10, February 1906 - The Repentant Devil says that you can buy lost souls at bargain prices here. The captain must agree, because she loves trying to hire people here.

8, May 1906 – The Circus’ big top is fully repaired. The acts there are incredible. The sideshow amusements are still awful. I had a bag of battered mushrooms and they were horrible. I had to toss them into the garbage.

 

Carillon

22, May 1905 – This place is similar to Magdalene’s, in a way. Both are houses of healing, but while Magdalene’s cures the mind Carillon cures the soul. Those with damaged souls can come here and are given penances to help them. There are seven gardens, each of which gives its own treatment.

The Foyer is where you need to go to speak to the Presiding Deviless and to make an appointment or check in. She was kind enough to let me interview her.

She emphasized the importance of having a high quality soul. Devils, I understand, enjoy purchasing such things. She also took notes on all my least favourite things. She’s very good at her job.

I found it extremely difficult to conduct interviews here. The patients and devils were very coy about what exactly went on in the gardens. My captain did visit the Garden of Insatiable Roses, however. She says she saw a heap of books left to rot. From what broken phrases she whispered, treatment here has to do with eating something that is symbolically connected to a sin from your past. Or perhaps just a cruelty you committed?

The Gaslight Terrace can be used to gain penances of enlightenment and cure a lightless soul. The people who go here are astonishingly boring. They are forced into doing interesting things. I saw one man being stuffed into a feathered ballgown since he always falls asleep at shows.

To enter the Bell Garden and gain penances of deprivation and cure a fermented soul, you need to be ritually purified. The bells always ring. It is freezing there. This is to help you if you are too interesting. The punishments always take something away from you, such as food or the ability to lie down.

The Chequerboard Garden will give you penances of shifts of perspective and cures curdled souls. The people here don’t know their place and are- (there is a smear of ink here. Someone yanked the writer’s hand away from the page.)

I’m back in my quarters now. Apparently, it was time to go. Don’t these people understand the mysteries I’m trying to unravel?

 

Lustrum

29, May 1905 – This mining town is located on a freezing mountain. It started out as a quiet village until people discovered they could mine time here. Mining is already hard, dangerous work so I don’t know who decided to make it worse by ensuring you’d also be cold doing it. It is where hours are mined. How fascinating! I wish I could wrap my head around how this all works. The High Wilderness is incredible. I should have come up here years ago. Or down to the Undersea.

There is a delightful family-run trading post here called Sweet Jane’s. You can buy barrels of unseasoned hours here. They look like geodes. Jane tells me that minutes grow inside the geodes like salt.

In the Claim Fields, you can see the Windward Company’s machines carving geodes and rock from the mountain, but anyone can do some mining if they’ve got a pickaxe. If you’re interested in mining, you’ll need an hour-harker. It’s impossible to find and stake a claim without one. It’s just too treacherous. People mark their claims with white flags. Personally, I think coloured flags should be used so they stand out against the snow. Is there a reason white flags are used?

In the Prospector’s Quarter, business takes place. It’s full of miners and pedlars, no matter how cold it is. I hate the cold. Sweet Jane also owns a counting house here. I suspect she is part of the family that owns the trading post. The Empress used to have a guesthouse here, but it was later converted into the Hanged Man pub. According to the stories told at the Hanged Man, a good hour vein will be far away from town. There should be just enough trees and scrub to break the ice, but they should be young trees. The colder and icier, the better.  Murgatroyd’s Golden Tea Shop must be visited! They serve the hungry food and information. Melusine runs the tea shop as well as the company. She wanted me to mention that she is willing to trade two uncanny specimens for a savage secret.

7, August 1905 – It is very lucky when the wind whistles through the caverns here. The miners say that the mountain is singing and celebrate with ale and panpipe music. The Repentant Devil said, "The Mother of Mountains was bleeding hours," and asked if I could feel her misery. I have no idea what he’s talking about. Can a mountain be alive? Up here, maybe.

21, November 1905 – Miners’ partners and older children work on the smaller, poor quality geodes from the claim fields. They chip away at the rock exterior to get the seconds underneath. They’re quite miserable. It doesn’t help that they do this work outside in a frozen, muddy park. Not even a fire to keep warm!

1, May 1906 – The Mountain sang today. I saw a lonely looking soup vendor and made to approach him, but Solid grabbed my shoulder. “You don’t need that,” he said. “There’s other food available. That should be a last resort.”

I had no idea he had such strong feelings about soup.

 

L&S Nature Reserve

10, July 1905 – The loading bay here is stern and no-nonsense. The place is owned by a very old company, so I can understand this. This place is a national park and people come here to study nature in the Reach. There are a lot of tourists, though. It would be incredible to study nature here, but I’m interested in so many other mysteries as well. I’ll just have to talk to as many researchers as I can while I’m here.

Capability’s Inquest is where the magic happens. They have such incredible laboratories there! I wish I could have used some of this equipment when I was in university. A Phlegmatic Researcher wanted me to put in that captains can come here if they’re looking for work. I don’t know why everyone wants me to add messages to my notebook. I tell them it’s only meant for me and that nobody else actually reads it, but they just smile and laugh. I don’t know why I put in their messages, but there it is.

Albert’s Idyll is the gate that leads to the nature part of the reserve. If you want to go in, you’ll need one of the researchers to act as a tour guide.

The shop here, Skyfarer’s Supplies, is a wonder. It’s so very efficient! I’ve never gone into a store and come out again so quickly. They sell verdant seeds here, which isn’t surprising.

14, February 1906 - There is also a hospital in an out of the way corner. I didn't see it at first! It's necessary as the nature here tends to be very deadly. "Sometimes accidents happen," a doctor told me, "in the pursuit of knowledge." It's very common here for researchers to be attacked by their test subjects. I told the doctor that I used to study the stars, but have recently expanded my studies. She told me that it was good that I've given up studying stars, as that's far too dangerous. I don't think she quite understood what I meant. I do study the stars a bit. I just study other things as well. I think I could spend my whole life studying this place's mysteries and be perfectly happy.

 

Port Avon

28, July 1905 – I was actually able to get off the engine and do some exploring this time! The first time we reached Port Avon, I wasn’t allowed off the ship because our quartermaster can be a real slave driver. This village is scattered across several floating islands and it’s just beautiful. The grass is green, the orchards smell sweet and the winds sigh through the trees. There are some pre-human ruins dotting the landscape too.

If you are lucky, you’ll arrive on a day with a breeze. On these days, everyone is a bit more relaxed and you can get cheap repairs and two barrels of fuel for the price of one.

That being said, the people who live here are very friendly, if only for a short amount of time. After a few hours, they get tired of you and get pretty stiff. Then you have to bribe them with salon-stewed gossip or caddies of dried tea. This can only be done at the Port Avon Dock.

The Village Green is home to the orchard. This is the main island. Most of the houses and businesses are located here. You can also find eel-fishers dangling their legs over the edge of the island and casting their lines into the sky. I could never do that. Too nerve-wracking. There is also a lovely church here. A walk around the green is always good to relax the crew. Grizzled gardeners grow plants in neat allotments here. I wouldn’t look too closely at the food they grow, though. It might put you off your meals. I couldn’t identify any of the fruit but was assured that it was all edible. In the High Wilderness, I think people just call fruit whatever they think it looks closest to. I’m reconsidering every dish I’ve ever eaten since I came up here.

I visited the Nowhere Inn. It’s on a separate island, but it’s very easy to get a small engine to take you over for free. It only takes a minute or two to get there. It gleams on the inside and is constructed of the brass locomotives that brought the first explorers here. I’ve collected a number of books and Botheridge’s ‘A Tour of the Heavens’ claims that the Nowhere Inn has cider that tastes like Old Earth cider. It does. I only allowed myself two glasses. It’s pretty strong stuff. The local author Turbulent Fabulist keeps volumes of stories on one of the shelves for people to read. I would love to look through them later, but we never stop at these ports for very long and it is always a struggle to get enough research done before we have to leave again. A seasoned captain could try to recruit people from the Inn. The New Somerset Hunting Club uses the top floor of the inn. One can apply for membership by acquiring hunting trophies for them, but I think they have a waiting list.

The Cyclopean Ruins are enormous. I have no idea how deep these caverns go. The stones here are carved into all sorts of strange shapes, but they fit together perfectly. It’s the strangest thing. I tried to go for a walk outside the ruins before heading in but was interrupted by a rude painter. It is possible to find bottled souls inside the ruins, but you need at least five people and the cover of night. The locals do not approve.

It’s surreal being here. It’s so much like home except for the odd comment or two about sky-beasts.

The store Sharma & Sons sells everything a captain could want. There are fuel and supplies here. In the back corners, you can even find jumbles of undistinguished souls that were found in the local ruins. What sort of ruins are they?

12, September 1905 – Her Renewed Majesty is fond of Port Avon. I was told by a gardener in the Village Green that she gave them a bunch of years to grow their orchard.

 

Traitor’s Wood

1, September 1905 – The port shares a name with the twining forest around it. The locals say there is a legend of a king who sleeps here.

The Parting Glade is closest to the station. It is a beautiful meadow full of wildflowers. Captains typically do business here. It’s the safest place to do anything in this place. There is a campfire here where the most intelligent scholars from Summerset gather. I should note that Summerset doesn’t fund the research team here anymore because they’ve judged it too dangerous to be here. The three scholars here are looking for help while they investigate the identity of the king who slumbers here. I know it’s only a legend, but this is the High Wilderness! It might be true. This Summerset camp is looking for help from brave captains.

By the Wood’s Edge, it is more or less safe. You can try gathering flowers and may find some seeds. You can go hunting, which I would not recommend anywhere in the High Wilderness and try to bring back a caged catch. You can have a nap, enjoy the sights and maybe gain a vision of the heavens. Today the captain took us all flower picking. We found a patch of herbs by a lake and picked the strangest plants. We found some navarantine coloured flowers by a copse of silverwood trees. I was struck mute by the beauty of those silverwood trees. They gleamed white. Light rippled off the bark. I’m so glad I came up here. It’s dangerous to spend too much time in the woods, so I recommend waiting a fortnight before going in again.

You can go on expeditions into the Wood’s Deep, but I’m not sure why you’d want to. Our captain laughed and said, “We don’t have enough people for that. We’ll come back when we have more.” I didn’t like the sound of that. Apparently smaller crews are riskier and the captain wants to play it safe. If you can call anything about this safe.

Summerset College has created an outpost here called Ravenscourt & Stamford. You can buy supplies and bronzewood here.

10, September 1905 - We went on an expedition into the Wood's Deep today to find Steward's Font. This is what we found. We also travelled through several interesting places like the Whispering Bog. The reeds called our names here, so we went around it. The Whispering Bog goes on for miles.

There was also Silvertree Glade, a glade full of silvertrees that we found while going around the Whispering Bog. Somehow, these trees speak various languages, including the Correspondence and Discordance. They also tell very disturbing lies. It’s dangerous going through here because the trees tend to destroy themselves when speaking Correspondence and Discordance.

Steward’s Font is very fascinating because [someone has cut out this page with a penknife.] I don’t know who’s been going into my journal, but I don’t appreciate it when pages go missing! Maybe it was those Summerset scholars? I don’t know who would steal my notes like this.

I’ve been going with the quartermaster on his supply run trips. I thought I might shadow him for a bit and learn more about how to survive in the High Wilderness. He liked the help because I don’t complain when he wants me to carry heavy crates. I’m not as strong as most of the other crew, but I’m more eager which makes up for a lot up here. The supply crates the Stolid Crewman puts together from his shopping at Ravenscourt & Stamford is mostly edible flora from the whispering glade. He examines everything carefully before putting it in the crate we brought along. The great thing about these places is that they offer a standardized price for a crate full of food or tools.

1, October 1905 – If you’re lucky you’ll arrive on a day when the woodcutters and charcoal burners get a day off. Then you can try hiring on some new crew or repairing your hull with bronzewood.

 

Hybras

This colony is pretty new and is located in a stretch of horrible, fungal ridden space. The people here are all so old. I will never understand this place. The only things to buy here are blotchy edible fungi and verdant seeds. There’s not even an official store, I don’t think. Just a sign that says ‘Trade with the Locals.’ The buildings have settled into various stages of decay and most of them have spores growing on them. There are enormous insects everywhere and some of them also have fungus growing on them. The starlight looks a bit different here since it’s filtered through the mushroom caps above us. I’m not sure if that’s important, but I noticed it.

The fungus in Hybras sometimes grows in little white egg sacs. The residents don’t like it when you step on them. I learned this the hard way. They explode into red tendrils. I would not recommend touching them. I’m not sure if they’re dangerous, but it never hurts to be careful. People are fond of keeping their own mushroom gardens filled with their favourite edibles.

They are fond of a game called bowls here and say that their youth was spent by others. Can you take the hours from someone? Is that what the mayor means?

The town hall is currently undergoing a touch up from the carpenter. Although he’s not entirely sure about the details of what he’s carving, so it could take a while.

The Brendan is the only tea house in Hybras, but you shouldn’t have the tea. The cakes are nice and are even decorated to look like the fungus outside, but the milk is usually rotten. I guess it’s hard keeping the fungus out of it.

While exploring outside the city bounds a bit, the Incautious Driver came with me since they’re not afraid of any sort of fungus, I found a plinth that had been decorated with nameplates. They had ‘Brabazon Workworld’ carved into them. The whole thing was in in the middle of a group of writhing fungal sacks. I didn’t touch them.

 

PORTS IN ALBION

London

6, January 1906 – This is my first time seeing London. I’ve heard stories about what it looked like when it was underground, of course. Right now, it’s in space. It really makes me sit back and think about all that’s changed for me. I’m in a crazy new place, filled with wonders and terrors. I’m learning how the world works. I could never go back to normal life. I just couldn’t. I hate and love life up here in equal measure. It’s also nice to be taken seriously as a scholar. The people here don’t care that I’m a woman. Gender is inconsequential. I suppose it doesn’t matter so much about gender when you see so many odd things.

London still loves their queen. There are bronze busts of her all along the platform greeting new engines. There are a lot of union jacks as well. The city is made up of sky-rock connected with bridges, stairs and ladders. The higher plates seem to be where the richer live. I started my explorations in St. Dominic’s Station. I’m told that the city was transported up block by block, but I’m not sure if that’s a metaphor. It looks beautiful. The buildings soar. They’re made of steel, glass and stone. Today was the anniversary of the Blockade of New Winchester, so people were a bit tense today. I saw some Ministry officials walking about and they looked very grumpy. The station is the best place to hire crew.

It was also Jubilation Day when we arrived. On this holiday, the people celebrate the death of the sun that used to be here. The Clergy of the New Sequence preached on every balcony about the wonders of the Clockwork Sun. I would like to see that. It sounds fascinating. The celebration mostly took place in Hyde Park, a scenic location with many bronzewood saplings planted in neat lines. They burned effigies of the King of Hours. I’m not sure who that is and will have to look into it.

In the Silken Salon (helpfully located in Dominic’s Station to attract captains) the Generous Princess can be found. She is very important politically and helps manage the affairs of the court. She also will pay those who bring her salon-stewed gossip, ministry-stamped permits, cryptic benefactors and royal dispensations. She pays money but also gives cups of tea with honey while talking with you.

The Office of Works does something. Nobody really knows what it does. The Stolid Crewman spoke with a foreman there and came away with a job. They wanted two carefully-packed crates of munitions and a condemned experiment for some reason. Perhaps if we do more jobs for them, the goods they require will paint a picture?

The Steam & Sapphire Yards is the best place to go for anything locomotive related. They create the parts that are needed to make the engines. As a result, they’re very good at engine repair. MacQuarry’s Tobacco Shop is set right by the Yards. I wouldn’t ask about his son, though. He really should get a new sign. The building is filthy and it looks to be on the brink of collapse. I’m told that skyfarers haven’t found a good substitute for tobacco, which is astounding until I remember how strange the plants are up here. I’m impressed the store is still standing.

I heard rumours of an underground railroad of some sort, and my captain agreed that we should investigate. Her contacts said that the Deniables (a special sort of constable that works for her Majesty) are searching for something too. We were pointed towards the Stalwart Bookkeeper in a dingy, smoky office hidden in an engine shed. I was amazed to see that the captain knew sign language since the Bookkeeper is deaf. It seems like it’s some sort of spy organization here. They want port reports.

Next, I visited the Ministry of Public Decency. This is the fanciest place I’ve ever been to. Thick, luxurious carpets. Beautifully panelled walls. I was told that there was nothing I could do here, but seeing as I obviously worked on an engine, my captain could hand in port reports here.

I visited the Royal Horological Office next. This place tries to organize time and keep it consistent, but the hour trade makes this impossible. I saw the clock of Albion, but was told that it was just for show. Apparently, if you want true accuracy you should consult the Chief Horologist’s pocketwatch. He only lost two hours once when he was very drunk and it was his birthday so I think that’s understandable. I tried to take the exam to become an horologist, but I suspect the only way to pass is to bribe them with hours.

Spitalfields Market is the place to go if you want to buy or sell anything. Although, the quartermaster says, “Smart captains buy stuff from smaller ports and sell them here. You don’t buy things here. Haven’t you been paying attention?” I wanted to point out that half of our goods have been scavenged and not bought, but decided against it.

St Dominic’s Augmentations is by the station and is the best place to go for engine improvements. You can buy all kinds of weaponry and equipment here.

Crown & Misery Co. Yards is where you go to buy a new engine. Most of what they sell has been made right there.

24, May 1906 – The city is built on a series of descending plates. The rich live higher up and the poor live on the lower ones. The smog drifts downwards and coats the poor on grime.

 

The Bit Between

8, January 1906 – This station was never formally named, but everyone calls it The Bit Between. You shouldn’t stay here too long because it’s so close to the Brabazon Workworld. The dock is between Brabazon and Little Nice, a picturesque village here. It is closer to the village to protect docking engines from time acceleration. Brabazon was the first workworld to be built in Albion and like all workworlds, uses hours to accelerate time. This is so the workworld can build goods faster. I tried asking the Stolid Crewman to explain this a bit more, but just got a long rant about “the cruelties of the hour trade.”

Brabazon has an interesting system in place for debtors. By working here, they can pay off their debts. Isn’t that nice? Brabazon mostly processes hours.

Little Nice can only be entered through a pair of thick, heavy doors. It’s so charming! I love it here. The air is fresh and the houses are so colourful. There’s even a fountain with cherubs. The Governor lives in a little tower. There are curators here that make sure everything is in top shape. I was a bit unnerved when I tried to talk to them because they wouldn’t tell me very much. I only got carefully sanitized little snippets that I might see on a tourist pamphlet. After the fourth curator I tried to interview, they started repeating themselves. All throughout the village, you can hear the thundering of the hour-looms in the workworld. A shop here called Little Niceties sells fuel and crates of nostalgic crockery.

 I was able to get an interview with the Governor. The captain and the Stolid Crewman joined me for this. The Governor was very nice and really seemed to care for the workers. He said that he had been thinking about changing some of the stops in the tour of Brabazon, but he didn’t want to put any strain on the workers. Apparently, they work harder when there are guests. They must be very proud of their work. I don’t think the Stolid Crewman liked the Governor very much, but he has such an incredible poker face that it’s hard to tell his mood sometimes.

We’re going on a tour of Brabazon as the Governor recommended. We used a ministry-stamped permit for passage. You need to have some hours woven for you to protect you from the workworld’s time. We were given cloaks to keep the smut off and given carriage clocks. The clocks are important because they show how much protection you have left from the sped up time of the workworld. The tour is led by overseers. I’m writing this in real time as we go through the tour. I don’t want to miss a single detail!

Brabazon has a rug weaving workshop. The rugs woven here are exported in London. The workers were so cheerful. One of them even thanked us for visiting. There is also a place set aside for blowing glass. The smog created by the furnaces here coat the workworld and keeps it warm by trapping heat. Because of this effect, the workworld doesn’t freeze. Isn’t that interesting?

We saw the hour refineries themselves and the refining process was explained. It works like this. The hour geodes are cracked open and the fibrous strands of time are removed with small chisels and saws. Adults crack the geodes open and children take the time out. Or did I hear that wrong? They don’t have children working here, do they? The filaments are passed through a furnace to purify them. Impurities turn into an indigo slush, which is raked through to ensure that nothing has been missed. Then the time is seasoned by superheating, supercooling and then superheated again. Then the tangled clumps are carded and wound onto spools. By the end, they look like thread.

We stayed behind a bit and saw a strange thing. A worker donning a striped blazer and dashing off. What could that have meant?

Anyways, they also produce raw components here like gravel. In a yard near the Bit Between, adults break rocks apart with hammers. They have protective gear to protect them from the dust. One of the donors asked me what I thought of it all, and I wasn’t quite sure what to say. It looks pretty harmless. People need factories to make goods, don’t they? But the Stolid Crewman seems to hate the place, and I’ve grown to trust his instincts.

18, January 1906 – The Incautious Driver said that his father helped pay for this place but that he probably never visited it. They were a bit alarmed when I wrote this down, but I think it’s interesting that the wealthy here pay for things like that and then ignore them. Is it to look good? Is it for charity? People do that back home too. I guess people never change.

 

Floating Parliament

11, Jan 1906 – This place is incredible. It’s a palace that floats in the void. You’ll dock at Cromwell’s Gate. They say the Empress brought the houses of parliament up here brick by brick to help her, but that might just be a story. Whether that’s true or not, it is true that the Empress got tired of their council and cut them loose from London. They still try to pass laws here, but nobody listens to them. Apparently, they haven’t passed a new law in years.  I’m not sure why they haven’t left yet.

The main palace is off-limits, but I was able to speak with several ministers during their lunch breaks. They were very annoyed when I asked them why they bothered passing laws here. “Tyrants fall. Democracy endures,” they said.

The People’s Perpetual Protest is a group of protestors that gather on the lawn outside the main palace. Nobody agrees on the same thing, but the chanting is very impressive. It’s a peaceful protest, too. Some of them even have signs. At three every day, the palace’s gates open and the protestors are served tea, scones and sandwiches. Isn’t that nice? I joined the protest, just to gather statements from the crowd.

Traitor’s Green has some lovely gardens. It was originally named after Cromwell. I must learn more about who that is, exactly.

 

Wit and Vinegar Lumber Company

22, May 1906 – This large company operates primarily in the Reach, but has its headquarters near London. The company specializes in mining bronzewood and employs a large number of sky-captains. The wood is used in many things such as construction, furniture and, of course, locomotives.

We didn’t get to do anything here, since they were so suspicious. They wouldn’t let us get off the loading dock!

 

The Most Serene Mausoleum

31, May 1906 – This large building is constructed over the still-cooling remains of Albion’s dead sun. It houses the most important dead people in London. To make it easier for visiting locomotives, Kensington Station was built into a side chapel. You will have to wait for a footman to escort you inside.

The internal structure is made of arched, narrow corridors and spiraling staircases. I was very glad to have a footman guiding us or I would have been very lost. You can hear music, laughter and sobs coming down other hallways. I wonder what these people are doing here? If you are very quiet, you may even hear the rumbles of the London Necropolis Railroad. The railroad is built deep in the bowels of the mausoleum. The Necropolis Railroad brings fresh bodies to the mausoleum for burial. I don’t think you can buy a ticket.

Once you’ve filled in your paperwork, you are free to explore the Nave! It seems to be a pay-if-you-can arrangement. Larger payments let you look at the tombs longer. The Nave is right above the heart of the mausoleum. The Prince Consort’s tomb is very popular and for good reason. The Empress has built quite the lavish tomb for him. She must have really cared about him.

The Deathless are kept interred in vaults and traders are always bringing in new hours for them. They’re trying to get a new station put in for their servants to speed this along, but I think a new chapel is going to be put in instead. We’ll have to see. They are favoured by the Empress, but are legally dead so they can’t have property or political power. They also have to stay here. The captain got me an interview (sort of) with the Luminous Cardinal. He asked me a lot of questions about the Bible that I couldn’t answer. It was awkward, but I think he left happy.

The Macabre Counsellor lives in the Catacombs of Silence, where the bones of saints and sinners are displayed.

If you press your face right against the glass windows, you can see the corpse of Albion’s sun. It looks like her Majesty’s Unclear Bomb nearly tore it in two! It’s a bit messy to leave the body lying around, but I guess it’s a bit tricky to clean up a piping hot sun.

The Prince-Consort’s tomb is right in the middle of the place. All the hallways lead here eventually. You have to speak to the Registrar first and pay a small fee. You can pay some sovereigns, but you won’t get a good look. I got a glimpse of four carved angel statues before I was pushed aside by someone with a crimson sash. I tried again. This time, I offered up some uncanny specimens I had in my pockets.

Oh, god. I just realized that I had cantankeri organs in my pockets as though it was normal.

What have I become?

Anyways, I was led up to a balcony and got a better look at the tomb. What interested me as the tiny locked door hidden behind it. I wonder if I can convince the captain to part with some Immaculate Souls so I can get a better look? I think this is the kind of thing the captain would be interested in.

As the Dismal Chamberlain is missing, don’t trust the clocks here. It’s his job to make sure they’re right, but he can’t do it because he’s gone and nobody is taking up the slack!

An interesting practice kept here is the interment of the living! At first, I was horrified. I pictured people sealed up alive in coffins. Stolid explained to me, “No, you idiot. You just put a piece of hair or something in. Where the hell do you get these ideas?”

The gift shop is called Memorabilia, but it’s not like any gift shop I’ve ever been in. Most gift shops are full of cheerful people. This one is strict and gloomy. You can buy stuff with the Prince-Consort’s face on it, though.

 

The Stair to the Sea

4, June 1906 – Some of the ships that came through the Avid Horizon were deemed illegal. The Home Office ordered them kept here. There is a thin landing dock for locomotives and a slender, rickety platform made of rotten wood. It’s wedged into the icy wall and it’s a sheer drop. It made me very dizzy. I couldn’t help but look down and see all the water bobbing beneath me. The ancient ships lurk there as though they’re dangerous beasts just waiting for you to fall. You have to shimmy down this narrow stairway to get to them and you have to bring an offering too! Stolid says it has to be something that can be eaten or burnt for warmth. At least the stair has an iron railing.

The Flotilla is made up of the tethered ships. I think cultists live in some of the old steamerships here.

You can see the gate that people used to get into space. It’s far from the Flotilla, but you can see it. You can row there in a boat. Stolid and the captain rowed there. I stayed with the crew, terrified on the docks.

We all thought they were going to leave us. Some of them begged for them to stay.

When they came back, the captain glanced at us and made an offering of coin. It made us all feel a bit better.

I didn’t have the courage to interview the captain and Stolid about the Gate. From what I remember, it’s just two winged statues anyways. And gant. The colour that remains once all else is devoured.


	4. Treasures

My conversation with the Melancholic Poet on Titania earlier got me thinking about how treasures are classified here in the High Wilderness. I’m trying to figure out how the average person here tells what type of story is what. It baffles me that everyone agrees on these types of stories like ‘sky-story’ and ‘tale of terror,’ but nobody can give me an exact classification. What is the true difference between them? I’ve decided to try to analyze the treasures and stories the other crew on this ship collect to see if I can figure this out.

 

Vision of the Heavens 

5, May 1905 - A silver idol of a humanoid figure with four wings. It’s made of moonstone to amplify starlight. I don’t think the captain will let me take it out into space to test this. It did seem to shine a bit brighter while we were transporting it from a looted wreck to our engine, though.

1, June 1905 – Found in the logbooks of a signal box. Captain McDonald-Ross wrote of a feverish light at the edge of the horizon. They followed it for days as it grew brighter. Then it went out. Do these stories have to be connected to light in some way? Or stars specifically?

17, August 1905 – The captain watched the stars wheel about the sky with the Ringmaster today. She spoke about them.

24, August 1905 - A page freed from the dress of a scrive-spinster. It seems to detail the pilgrim-routes of celestial bodies. They circle around their sun as if holding court.

19, November 1905 – Found in the logbook in a signal box. Captain McDonald-Ross wrote of a place as dark as sleep and as quiet as a forgotten story. They barely made it out alive, but want to go back. This seems like it should be a tale of terror to me, but apparently not. I guess the heavens are made up of darkness as well as light.

18, February 1906 – The gloomy mathematics of a few crew members who saw a star die. They tried to puzzle out how many stars there were, how often one dies and how long it would be until the skies are dark and cold.

23, May 1906 – Went on a tour of the new London Monitor and got to try out the sensory equipment on the bridge. I saw a cluster of distant stars. They were so clear and beautiful. They looked close enough to touch that I reached out and almost fired the gun. Oops.

 

S ky-Story

22, May 1905 – Killed a cantankeri today and the crew swapped stories while listening to its dying grumbles. They said that the creatures come from a world that died a very long time ago. To them everything is new, and they hate new things. That’s kind of sad. Poor, confused cantakeri. Maybe they’re just very aggressive. Or stupid.

1, June 1905 – Found in the logbooks of a signal box. Captain Oganah wrote of a homestead that was built in the style of Old London. The crew was made nostalgic after this. Before that, they fought a chorister bee. This counts as two stories. One for the battle and another for the homestead. Sky stories are sort of like fairy tales, I think.

10, July 1905 – We visited the Nature Reserve today and had a tour. The crew put together stories of the animals and plants we saw.

31, July 1905 – Found in the ledger of a signal box. Captain Welton deposited some fuel and had amazingly bad luck. One crewman called Jones (very unusual to not have a use-name!) did a great deal of damage to the hull by launching poorly from docks, landing poorly in docks and doing some strange things on board. 

12, September 1905 – In Port Avon, I read The Devil’s Confession by the Turbulent Fabulist. It was a satire, and I really enjoyed it.

8, January 1906 – I tried to speak with the overseer of Brabazon Workworld. He wouldn’t talk to me for fear of risking demotion. Are they really treated that badly here? He will only speak to someone in uniform, but I don’t know what kind. He said he was only twenty, but he looked a lot older.

11, Jan 1906 – Joined the People’s Perpetual Protest and took statements from the crowd. It was very easy to get drawn into the chanting.

1, April 1906 – Skylarks told us of the Sugarspun Garden. It’s a place made of candy. It has whiskey rivers and marzipan mountains (an odd combination) and no laws at all. Skylarks can find their way there if they’re very lucky. Even the trees are smiling. It’s nice to hear a sweet tale up here.

1, April 1906 – Visited the church at Port Avon and got to hear them sing, ‘Judge Eternal, Throned in Splendour.’

 

Tale of Terror

10, September 1905 – During an expedition in Traitor’s Wood, we found a glade of silver trees. They spoke to the crew in various languages and told lies about things we held dear. They spoke Discordance and Correspondence. It took hours to make it through. It’s hard to say whether the crew was more scared by the magical languages or the lies.

17, October 1905 – We were looting a broken vessel when it broke apart with us still inside it. Two people were sliced apart by the shifting metal. Their suits ruptured. I had to watch them spin away into space, still gasping. They trailed droplets of blood.

25, Jan 1906 – Spoke to the workers at the Windward Company Factory in Port Prosper. Got six stories from them about their work. It’s so awful what these people are going through. The conditions are horrible and a lot of people get injured. The pay is so low that they can’t get any housing except for what the Company provides and nobody else will hire them.

 

Savage Secrets

25, July 1905 – I’m not entirely sure what the requirements are for this. What makes a secret savage? How many people have to know about it before it isn’t a secret anymore? I am told that motions that haven’t reached the Assembly floor count, especially if they may change laws. I don’t see what’s so savage about that, though.

21, November 1905 – According to Melusine, M. Bazalgette’s agent was seen heading for Port Prosper and there’s been unrest after Windward’s latest incident. Must it have the potential to hurt someone else to be a savage secret?

18, Jan 1906 – Traded 2 sky stories to workers at Brabazon Workworld for a savage secret when we snuck away from the tour.

1, April 1906 – The skylark Quivers has gone missing. People say he’s probably dead, but maybe he’s just lost. Or nobody’s seen him in a while. The High Wilderness is a big place.

 

Salon-Stewed Gossip

20, September 1905 – I’m not entirely sure about this one. It seems to be just random gossipy tidbits about the ‘important people.’ Some marauders thought it was important enough to hide in a concealed compartment, though so I shouldn’t dismiss it.

18, October 1905 – A sheaf of documents found in the captain’s cabin of a reach marauder. Apparently, some captains signed orders saying they would help attack the Tacketies.

8, January 1906 – While touring the Brabazon Workworld, the Stolid Crewman claimed to have paid for a roof. Some rich ladies immediately started telling him about their family members that were eligible for marriage. It was hilarious.

 

Uncanny Specimen

28, July 1905 – Our quartermaster, the Stolid Crewman, put some ‘carrots’ that a gardener at Port Avon gave me in a jar. They’re striped like a tiger. When I thanked him for not adding it to our food supplies, he shrugged. “Maybe if we run out,” he said. I think he was joking. I'm not sure if he knows how.

24, August 1905 – Some odd glowing things in a mesh cage. They appear to be large insects of some sort. I'm assured they are dead.

 

Verdant Seeds

14, August 1905 – Keep these away from water or they will start sprouting. They’re only good for sale if they haven’t sprouted. I’m told this is partly why they’re kept in sacks. The sacks keep the light away. These seeds don’t grow verdant fungus like I originally thought. Verdant is just a particular shade of green with magical connotations. They are grown in many homesteads, but they can grow into any kind of plant. Life has a tendency of mutating wildly up here.

 

Jumble of Undistinguished Souls

14, August 1905 – They aren’t worth much individually, but together they’re worth something. These are souls gathered from regular people. Devils get them by making deals with people, but I’m not entirely sure how the process works. The bottles are usually made of glass and come in all shapes and colours. These souls are typically flawed in some way. There is liquid in the bottle and something else, I think. It's very hard to say what it is. I don't know if the liquid is part of the soul or just something for it to float in. Surely if souls were physical things, science would have found them by now.

 

Barrels of Unseasoned Hours

14, August 1905 - These are mined from the Mother of Mountains, but can also be found in deposits floating in space. Nearly everyone uses them. They are kept in barrels sealed with wax to keep the sighs in. If your barrel doesn't have a ministry stamp on it, then it's no good. That being said, I've seen our quartermaster put freshly mined hours into barrels and create a very impressive forgery of a ministry stamp by shaping the cooling wax with bits of metal. When I asked him about it, he said, "You've got a sharp eye, Determined Scholar. Why don't you use it to find the captain's blemmigan? it's hiding in the pipes somewhere." Three hours later, the Rat Brigade told me (while laughing and jeering) that the captain did not have a blemmigan.

21, November 1905 – The outer shell of rock hides the fibrous growths of time inside the geodes. The rock shell tends to be a bit salty and will blacken the hands. They sound weary and melancholy.

 

Crates of Nostalgic Crockery

14, August 1905 - These are made in London. You can tell because they have the Empress' face on them and are covered in roses. They really are quite beautiful. Our quartermaster keeps these very secure so the china doesn't break. The crate is packed with padding as well.

 

Carefully-Packed Crate of Munitions

14, August 1905 - All engines use these supplies to fire their weapons, but sometimes a crate or two is bought specifically for trade. If you drop it, it might explode. The last time we brought a crate aboard, I almost dropped it. The Stolid Crewman yelled at me once I'd put the crate away safely and made me lash them together tightly so they wouldn't move around. Apparently, he thought I was pretending to almost drop it (a joke some crew like to pull). I hadn't the courage to tell him that I had actually almost dropped a crate of explosive weaponry onto my foot.

 

Caddy of Dried Tea

14, August 1905 - Tea isn't breakable, so I'm always glad when we have to carry it on board because I am very clumsy. It won't be broken if you drop it. The caddy might get scuffed, but that can be wiped off. They really should be called crates though, because these caddies are the largest I've ever seen. Each is as big as a crate.

 

Ministry-Approved Literature

14, August 1905 - The ministry goes through books and poems and things and 'corrects' it so that regular people can read it. I'm not entirely sure what they take out. There's enough horror in everyday life here, that I can't imagine people would complain too much about a scary story. I heard that back when London was by the undersea, they used to edit out the steamier parts in romance novels, though.

18, Jan 1906 – Workers at Brabazon Workworld gave us a crate of bibles that have been approved by the Ministry of Public Decency. They are the latest and most improved edition. I thumbed through one and was shocked at how much they’ve changed. They’ve added a good deal and ripped a lot out. I have a copy of my old bible from back home and asked the Stolid Crewman if I could keep one of the bibles from the Workworld. I want to make a list of all the changes. It will be a long project, but it will be fascinating. Unfortunately, he scowled and said, “No. You want to do some project you do it in your spare time and get your own bible to examine. These are for trade and they’re staying in the hold. You take one out of this crate and I’ll string you up for the sky-beasts to eat.” Then he glared at me and grabbed a heavy wrench as though I was about to attack him. I backed away very slowly.

 

Gourd of Chorister Nectar

14, August 1905 - Chorister nectar is best kept in leathery wineskin-like things called gourds. These gourds are tough and I have no idea what they're made of. It could be some kind of processed plant fibre. It could be animal skin. I'm not even sure where you get them! I should ask the quartermaster, but I don't want him to send me off to find another nonexistent creature. You can also store the nectar with chorister honeycomb. This method requires a box and means that you will have less nectar in total. However, the nectar you have will be higher quality. The box will get sticky and will be a pain to transport. I recommend the gourd method since the price evens out in the end. Sometimes sheer volume beats sheer quality. It is used as a sweetener, intoxicant and to give singers an extra half-octave of range.

 

Pane of Stained Glass

14, August 1905 - When London was by the undersea, people used light to keep the darkness at bay. The light of the Judgements (stars/suns) was too far away so reality was horribly flexible. The darkness drove people mad. It turns out that the light of the Judgements can be just as dangerous as the darkness of the Neath. Coloured glass panes like these help keep it away. Settlements don't need these as much, because engines get closer to starlight than landmasses do. They're also a pain to transport because they have to have cloth layered between them. Then we have to tie them together.

 

Roll of Thirsty Bombazine

14, August 1905 - These rolls of cloth are incredible. They eat light! Or store it? They must store it because they get heavy when they soak up the light. But they lighten over time, so maybe they eat it too? We have to keep them away from water because they soak that up too.

 

Bronzewood

14, August 1905 - The trees that grow in the High Wilderness are generally made of bronzewood. It's much harder than bronze, though it does have a bronzy look to it. The resin gleams. I wonder if it's ever made into jewelery? They've been known to grow up to three times the size of an American Redwood. That's over a thousand feet tall! Dynamite is used fell them.

10, September 1905 – The heartwood gleams and can be obtained by tree-borers. These brave workers use special drills to bore into the trunks of bronzewood trees and extract splinters of heartwood. The heartwood is more resinous than you might expect.

 

Caged Catch

14, August 1905 - I saw trapped, furious sky-beasts of all kinds in rows at Victoria Market. I hope we never have to transport one of those. How would you even feed it? Take care of it? I would rather examine the corpses of monsters than be near the live ones. I like learning, but I like staying alive too.

12, October 1905 – These are a pain to take care of. They need to be fed every day for one thing. You need to keep them clean or at least try to make sure they’re not rolling around in their own feces. The more dangerous and exotic, the more valuable they are. The creature that the Stolid Crewman brought aboard had a spring-loaded mouth and was covered in spines. It was horrifying. I stayed so far away from it. Nobody went in the hold. It’s up to the Stolid Crewman and the captain to fetch things from the hold until we sell the beast because they are fearless.

26, May 1906 – A well-fed coiled creature that we found in a star-seared explorer’s locomotive. It glows from under the tarp that we’ve draped over it. It really is very well fed. It eyes the crew hungrily. Stolid says that it’s not uncommon for maddened people to feed beasts’ human meat. I wish it would stop trying to grab people by the ankles with its tentacles. We’ve drawn an outline of chalk around the cage to mark how far it can reach to stop accidents.

 

Selection of Immaculate Souls

14, August 1905 - These souls belong to the most special people. Or maybe they are rare. I'm not sure how the devils judge these things. Either way, they are kept in ornate, crystal bottles. I'm told these are used as currency by the Judgements. These souls are usually free of any flaws.

 

Cask of Navaratine Gemstones

14, August 1905 - I saw these in rows at Victoria Market. I'm not quite sure what they are or where they come from. I've heard they're sparks that fall out of the Forge of Souls, but that might just be a sky-story. These casks are typically a healthy mix of gemstones and will rarely be all the same kind. I have identified rubies and sapphires, but some of the gems cannot be identified.

 

Barrel of Fuel

17, August 1905 – These usually hold coal or coke. I’ve heard that coke is preferable because it creates more heat (so you use less) and hardly produces any smoke. Up here, a few sacks of coal are equal to one barrel of coke. I’ve seen both black and white coke used. Our quartermaster insists on keeping these in the hold and not the engine room because, “Are you trying to start a fire? Get that barrel to the hold before you blow up the engine, you moronic bastard!”

 

Crates of Supplies

17, August 1905 – I’m pretty sure all ships do this. Our quartermaster does this thing where he portions out the food and equipment the crew runs through in a day and puts in a crate. These crates are kept at the front of the hold so they’re easy to grab.


	5. The Truth

Politics of Suns – research organized by the Bedevilled Didact and transcribed by the Determined Scholar

The suns, or Judgements, are the regents and legislature of heaven and establish the natural laws that govern existence. They organize themselves into social groupings called ‘constellations’ and ‘conjunctions.’ Constellations are small and local groupings of Judgements. Conjunctions are much larger and are comparable to nations.

There are three primary Conjuctions.

The Chrysanthemum Conjunction adore inception. They are drawn to beginnings and newness. The Amaranthine Conjunction believes in culmination and endings. The Nepenthine Conjunction believes in separation and isolation. They advocate the raising of barriers and drawing of borders. The three groups often fight with each other.

 

Fire that Follows – research organized by Spatchcock Meg and transcribed by the Determined Scholar

This is a blue, living flame.

 

Dead Suns – research organized by the Plucky Baroness and transcribed by the Determined Scholar

A sample of post-necrotic celestial tissue (sun’s blood) was acquired from the remains of Albion’s sun. Specialized equipment has been ordered from Portsmouth House.

 

The Courtesy – research gathered by the Masked Citizen and transcribed by the Determined Scholar

This is a conspiracy.


	6. Quartermaster's Guide

The Quartermaster, Stolid Crewman, pulled me aside today. “You want to keep following me around while I do the shopping?” I agreed. He nodded. “You’ve been keeping track of the shops we visit, but you haven’t been keeping track of the clients.” I didn’t ask how he knew this. Does everyone read my journal? It’s only research notes. “Clients,” he continued, “are how smart captains make money. Any tosser can buy something at a port and sell it at New Winchester, but the real trick is getting a network of buyers and sellers together. That’s how the real money is made.”

I’m supposed to keep track of the people we buy from and sell to from now on. Is the Stolid Crewman trying to train me up for something? I’m too nervous to ask him. I’m just a scholar, really. I pay attention and I take a lot of notes, but there’s a lot I don’t know about the High Wilderness.

What we do is comparable to buying crops directly from a farmer and selling it to a hungry woman. We bypass stores completely. It’s a clever system. The people we buy from profit because sky-captains aren’t stores and so don’t give them a bunch of paperwork and stuff. They don’t have to jump through any hoops or prove that their goods are high-quality. This is why sky-captains must have a head for business and a good eye if they’re going to trade this way. The people we sell to profit because they don’t have to negotiate with a store or company. They pay more for their goods, but it’s guaranteed that they’ll get them eventually, no matter where they are. Some stores refuse to ship goods at all.

 

THE REACH

Prospects/Buyers:

Bronzewood – Port Avon – Mr. Sharma: Every time cricket season rolls by (which must be quite often) he orders bronzewood so he can make equipment. I’m told that he makes bats, bales, stumps, shin-pads and codpieces. Well, he calls them “protective cups to minimize damage to delicate areas.” I asked if he meant ‘codpieces’ and he gasped. We had to leave Port Avon very quickly that day. The next time we brought him wood, I stayed quiet. We got an insane amount of scones. I would rather just leave than eat that many scones.

 

Carefully-Packed Crate of Munitions – Lustrum – Sweet Jane: She says that she needs to enforce a claim, but I’m not sure I believe her. For one thing, she dragged the crates into the back room herself and wouldn’t say anything about them. I asked her why she needed so many weapons to enforce a claim and she only stared at me. Then she gave me a large pouch of sovereigns and patted my cheek. “Doesn’t matter why she wants them,” Stolid said. “Leave her be.”

 

Barrels of Unseasoned Hours – Polmear & Plenty’s Inconceivable Circus – Ringmaster: He wants hours for his retirement. I would never retire. I love researching too much. As a thank you once you bring him everything, he’ll give you a cup of chorister-nectar and watch the stars with you.

Barrels of Unseasoned Hours – Leadbeater & Stainrod’s Nature Reserve – Superior Researcher: She wants hours to help her in her work. She gave us a lovely serpentine potted plant for our silence. It purrs, gently. It’s so sweet. Do I have to feed it? I can only assume that she’s cutting corners or doing something illegal with the hours. Is this why she is superior to the other researchers?

 

Jumble of Undistinguished Souls – Port Prosper – Various Lords and Ladies: Infernally-themed weddings are a big thing up here. I’m not entirely sure why. I’ve heard of themed weddings before, but an infernal theme seems like asking for trouble. The butler usually accepts them on behalf of the Lord or Lady and pays a small sum for discretion.

 

Verdant Seeds – Magdalene’s – Amenable Host: Some of the actors have to give flowers to people while treating them. To help with this, the Amenable Host has a very large flower garden. Every now and then, he needs to have it replanted or expanded. He says that he misses flowers like roses, lilies and bluebells but appreciates the unique traits of ‘celestial blooms.’ According to him, some of them cry. I wouldn’t want a crying flower. How would you handle watering it? Should you water a crying flower more or less? It might water itself, but it might also need more water to refill its tear ducts.

Verdant Seeds – Titania – Florid Landscapist: It’s her job to plant gardens to commemorate the birthdays of popular artists. She gives extra money when she has all her seeds. “You have no idea how many seeds I go through,” she said. “Do you have any idea how many seeds can fit in one of these sacks? Imagine planting all of these.”

 

Bargains/Sellers:

Barrels of Unseasoned Hours – Buoyant Broker: This travelling salesman is very cheery. I suspect that he has a massive engine and deals exclusively in hours from members of his crew that he has stationed in Lustrum. I’m glad that the Sly Mistress hasn’t done something like that. I don’t think she wants to be tied to one place that way. He can be found in Carillon too sometimes, but always complains about how the devils never want to buy his hours. I can’t help but wonder why he keeps going there. Maybe devils don’t want hours because they already have long lifespans. Or maybe they just have different priorities.

Barrels of Unseasoned Hours – mining locomotives: What some captains do is they specialize in mining from drifting sky-rocks. We have a drill on our engine, but we don’t specialize in mining. We just mine when we have the opportunity. We’re opportunist miners.

 

Bronzewood – Wit & Vinegar representatives: This struggling lumber company has a fleet of ships that rove around selling bronzewood offcuts.

Bronzewood – tree-borers – Traitor’s Wood: These wiry men sell gleaming splinters of heart-wood. They’re resinous and should be washed before bundling them into the hold. Otherwise, the sap gets everywhere and Stolid gets really mad.

 

Caged Catch – mangled hunters – Traitor’s Wood: These sky-captains run sleek engines with more guns than I’ve ever seen. Why don’t we have that many guns? They capture creatures alive and sell them on rickety tables.

 

Gourd of Chorister Nectar – Whistling Apiarist: He is a traveling merchant that gathers the nectar himself. His use-name implies that he has somehow managed to keep chorister bees, but his crew won’t talk to me. They just shudder and walk away.

Gourd of Chorister Nectar – hive-harrowers – Lustrum: These sky-captains have bulky engines and specialize in hunting chorister bees. I’m not entirely sure why they choose to sell their goods in Lustrum. Maybe after hunting bees, they want to sell their goods where the bees can’t see them.

 

Crates of Nostalgic Crockery – footman – Titania: The people here care so much about fashion. I don’t understand it. As soon as their plates go out of fashion, they sell them and buy new ones. What a waste of money!

 

Ministry-Approved Literature – hawkers: Are these people who woke up one day and realized that they had too many books? My parents were always trying to sell off my books. They said that a young lady shouldn’t have so much words around.

 

Carefully-Packed Crate of Munitions – Doleful Fence - Lustrum and Magdalene's: This traveling fence keeps his wares hidden under a massive oil-coated tarp. He’s picky about his customers and Stolid won’t tell me how he got accepted onto the Fence’s list of approved customers. Is it a list? According to Stolid, “They’re all different things. An iron is different than a barker and bulldogs-with-six-teeth are something else entirely. Look more closely, but on your time. Just get them into the hold. And stop taking notes; you’re making the Doleful Fence nervous.” They all look like guns to me.

Carefully-Packed Crate of Munitions – scavenger captains: These people are like vultures. They pick over the wreckage left behind when Stovepipes and Tacketies fight. I’m not entirely sure that I approve.

 

Pane of Stained Glass – Sooty Vagabond – Port Prosper: He leads an urchin gang. They probably specialize in stealing glass, because he wouldn’t tell me where he got it. Stolid insists on repacking them as the Sooty Vagabond puts the fragile panes between wooden boards and wraps the whole thing in greasy rags.

 

Caddy of Dried Tea – unknown, scarred man - Lustrum and Magdalene's: This man would only pick his teeth when I asked him why he was selling it so cheap. I think he’s a member of a team of fences. I warned Stolid that the tea leaves were probably low-quality and may be tainted with other substances. The Stolid Crewman leant over, smelled the leaves and grunted. “Relax,” he said. “Nobody’s going to smell a bit of Davy’s Dust.” The scarred man smiled and nodded as though this was a compliment. Stolid has a lot of strange connections. I’m not entirely sure how he manages it.

Caddy of Dried Tea – Dishevelled Research Associate - Leadbeater & Stainrod Nature Reserve and Traitor's Wood: Funnily enough, these woman are contacts of our captain! Our captain is known in the academic community for her published papers. Stolid brought her along for this purchase and she got to show off her knowledge. Accidentally spending all your money on tea is a common problem up here. 

Caddy of Dried Tea – researchers – Leadbeater & Stainrod Nature Reserve: The researchers here tend to grow plants. These plants are not tea plants, but that doesn’t stop them from selling the leaves as ‘tea leaves.’ I’m beginning to understand why Stolid was so confident that nobody would notice ‘Davy’s Dust’ in tea leaves.

 

Jumble of Undistinguished Souls – mining-locomotives – Port Avon: every now and then, someone will dig into the ruins here and take out some souls. This always makes the locals angry and paranoid. The miners are very eager to get rid of their goods. Stolid stands there like a rock and bargains aggressively with them. It makes them very scared.

Jumble of Undistinguished Souls - Snivelling Spirifer: I think he steals the souls himself.  He keeps them in grubby bottles and swears that they were all decent, god-fearing folk. They can’t have been that god-fearing, though.

 

Verdant Seeds – syndicated allotment-owners: These farmers are part of a syndicate that spans the entire Reach! The syndicate has messengers that go back and forth to spread gardening tips and things like that. It’s a fascinating system.

Verdant Seeds – greenhouse-engines: These people don’t grow the crops themselves. I was confused at first and Stolid had to explain it to me. What they do is buy very cheap crops from homesteads and then sell them all at ports. “Risky having a hold packed full of plants like that,” Stolid said. “There’s always someone who gets hungry and tries to taste them. It never ends well.”

Verdant Seeds – Buoyant Broker – Port Avon: This cheerful man insists on giving his buyers well-meaning advice on how to store the seeds. Stolid got very offended at the suggestion that he didn’t know how to manage his hold.

Verdant Seeds - Settlers: Their crops tend to ripen at awkward times, which makes it really hard for there to actually be seasonal cycles like there was back home. I explained the idea of regular seasonal cycles to the Stolid Crewman. “What?” he said. “So you just eat meat in the winter?” I don’t think he really understood it.

 

Albion

Prospects/Buyers:

Nostalgic Crockery – The Macabre Counsellor – The Most Serene Mausoleum: This woman is very finicky about her tea. Her tea parties (discussions?) sound very gloomy and boring. She won’t stand to have a single chipped plate on her table. Is she worried about her reputation?  How often does she throw out tea sets?

 

Ministry-Approved Literature – Avid Horizon: The people here are always bored and look for new entertainment. Why don’t they just leave? They don’t leave because the people in charge buy them books. Funnily enough, this is how my parents got me to eat at the dinner table as a child. They’d bribe me with books and I would try to behave and not dip my sleeves in the gravy.

 

Bargains/Sellers:


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